September 30, 2010

New Transportation Study Says Urban Sprawl Causes Congestion

For years now, The Urban Mobility Report, issued every two years by the Texas Transportation Institute, has been regarded by many transportation and urban planning experts as the ‘bible’ on traffic congestion issues. The report has been used to justify large road improvement projects throughout the country in an attempt to solve major metropolitan traffic congestion problems.

However, a new report from CEOs for Cities offers a dramatic critique of the 25 year old industry standard created by the Texas Transportation Institute’s Urban Mobility Report (UMR). The report provides a new look at traffic congestion and suggests there are additional reasons why Americans spend so much time in traffic. The report

The report ranks how long residents in the nation’s largest 51 metropolitan areas spend in peak hour traffic, and in some cases the rankings are almost the opposite of those listed in the 2009 Urban Mobility Report. Here’s a list from the report of the 10 cities (out of the 51 studied) where commuters spend the most time getting to work every day.

Cities

Avg. hours per year in traffic

Detroit – Warren - Livonia

179

Indianapolis - Carmel

166

Louisville / Jefferson County

165

Raleigh - Cary

161

Birmingham – Hoover

159

Oklahoma City

154

St. Louis

153

Memphis

152

Richmond

147

Kansas City

142

The report says that compact cities are the real answer to reducing traffic delays. The key is to have land use patterns and transportation systems that enable their residents to take shorter trips and minimize the burden of peak hour travel. These conclusions are very different than those of the UMR, which has long been used to measure traffic congestion and has been used to justify road improvement projects costing millions of dollars.

It’s nice to have a fresh look at the traffic congestion issue. Thanks CEO for Cities!